Divergence
by cjtokage
Summary: Actions speak louder than word. Kira makes different choices during the battle of Heliopolis based on his observations of the Archangel crews' actions. Eventual KiraAthrun. AU takes off from canon early in the series.
1. Learn To Fly

**Divergence**

**By: cjtokage**

**Disclaimer**: I own no part of the Gundam continuum. I am making ZERO dollars on this work of fiction.

**Warnings**: Yaoi/Slash; in other words two (or sometimes more heh, heh) guys romancing each other. Athrun/Kira pairing; AU story that takes off from the cannon version fairly early. Perhaps a small hint of OOCness for those of you who worry about that type of thing. Proofread but not beta'd, so any mistakes are mine. Let me know and I will fix them during the final draft.

**Chapter One:** Learn To Fly

"Behind you" Kira yelled at the woman standing atop the mobile suit below him. She swung around and quickly dispatched the would be sniper.

"Get down here" she told the boy who had just saved her life. "Those shelters over there have been destroyed already. There's nothing left behind that door but rubble." She briefly pondered where the teenaged boy had come from before getting back to the business of defending the X-units.

Kira noticed the smoke that he had missed previously and making a snap decision he launched himself over the railing and dropped the fifteen meters to the factory floor below. With catlike grace he landed next to the female soldier and watched with slight amusement as she blinked at him is disbelief. Both of their attention was swiftly redirected to the other mobile suit when one of the soldiers dressed as a factory worker took down a ZAFT soldier only to be just as quickly cut down.

Suddenly a red suited figure turned and released a burst of fire in their direction hitting Kira's female companion in the shoulder knocking her to her knees. Kira knelt down to present a smaller target and see if he could provide aid for the ailing Natural before him. He noticed that they were no longer taking fire and when he chanced a glance in their attacker's direction he saw him fiddling with his rifle apparently attempting to clear a jammed bullet. Dropping the now useless gun the other figure instead drew a wicked looking knife and began bound over in their direction. Kira stood up beside the still kneeling female and prepared the best he could to defend himself.

The swiftly approaching individual paused as he got within a few paces of the two and Kira suddenly heard and familiar voice gasp out his name. The voice had change somewhat with age and puberty but as Kira gazed past the tinted faceplate he thought he saw to equally familiar and slightly haunting eyes.

"Ath-Athrun?"

The other visibly trembled at the sound of his name and the two of them stood there facing each other in slight shock at having rediscovered each other in such improbable circumstances. The other participant in this bizarre situation quickly took advantage of the ZAFT soldiers pause and brought up her pistol up and fired in his direction. Athrun having already noticed the movement easily dodged, moving backwards as he did so.

Kira growled in anger at this person whom he had protected firing at his friend Athrun. He tackled her to prevent her from firing off another round and inadvertently dropped them both into the cockpit of the mobile suit jarring her injured shoulder and causing her to wince at the new pain. Working through the pain she swiftly closed the hatch and began initiating the suits startup procedures.

Outside Athrun growled at having lost Kira, which he vowed would only be temporary, and then he would get some answers as to why his friend was helping the Naturals. With a decisive movement the blue haired soldier quickly moved to the other mobile suit and began his own startup requirements after first disabling the suits self-destruct mechanism.

In the other suit Kira was avidly watching his companion's movements as she began attempting to maneuver the bulky and awkward machine. On one screen he noticed the words

**G**eneral

**U**nilateral

**N**euro-link

**D**ispersive

**A**utonomic

**M**aneuver

Kira looked at the words and whispered questioningly "Gun…dam?"

Two Hours later…

Kira had successfully fought off a GINN while at the same time arguing against the recalcitrant female Earth Forces soldier, he had breathed a sigh of relief when she had been knocked unconscious during the battle. A short while later she regained consciousness while he was tending to her arm wound and she thanked him by pulling her pistol on him, Kuzzey, Sai, Tolle, and Miriallia; she then ordered the other three boys to retrieve the trailer holding the Strike's equipment. While Kira had been equipping the Launcher pack he had been ordered to mount, a different ZAFT mobile suit had come bursting out of the central shaft followed by an Earth Forces mobile armor. During that particular battle the mobile armor and the enemy mobile suit had been damaged as had Heliopolis when Kira had unwittingly used the Launcher's Hyper Impulse Cannon in an attempt to halt the damage being inflicted upon his home. The Earth Forces newest warship, the Assault Movement Special Equipment Warship named the Archangel, had also made an appearance further encouraging the enemy mobile suit to leave the battle.

After that battle the Archangel had landed and the Strike boarded amidst amazed stares and moments later looks of disbelief when Kira dismounted. Tensions further escalated as Lieutenant Ramius was informed of the death of virtually the entire bridge crew including all senior officers. It was during this conversation that a tall blonde in a purple and gray Earth Forces flight suit joined in and introduced himself as Lieutenant Mu La Flaga. After the three remaining officers had ascertained the condition of the ship and crew they turned their attention towards Kira whom had been giving the others details of the previous two battles he had fought in. Suddenly the man name La Flaga had asked him point blank if he was a Coordinator. Kira not believing that there was a reason to lie answered with a hesitant yes. Immediately several rifles and pistols were aimed in his direction. The only ones who did not look at him with fear or hate were his friends and Lieutenant La Flaga. Only after an intense standoff between his four friends and the Earth Forces soldiers was Kira not locked up. La Flaga had immediately apologized to Kira stating that he didn't realize what kind of reaction his relatively innocent question would garner. Kira for his part suspected that the real reason that he was not thrown into the brig was because the Earth Forces personnel needed him to pilot the mobile suit for them.

Kira was currently asleep so he was unaware of his friend's conversation and their acceptance of his being a Coordinator. He was suddenly awakened by Lieutenant Ramius who asking to speak to him in the hallway. Kira suspected that this was about him piloting the Strike again and he was dead set against doing that.

As Kira was exiting the room he overheard the Lt. informing the other four that because Heliopolis was under a level nine hazard level they would be unable to exit the ship and enter an emergency shelter. Kira realized exactly how they were going to attempt to gain his help, by using his friends as bargaining chips and though this pissed him off he kept his emotions behind the confused mask he'd been wearing.

Towards the end of the conversation in which she was able to counter each of his arguments Ensign Badgiruel's voice came over the loudspeaker. "Captain Ramius please come to the bridge; we are detecting incoming mobile suits. N-Jammer levels are rising. It looks like their going to attack us inside the colony."

"Okay I'm on my way." The Captain turned to Kira and said in a no nonsense tone of voice "mister Yamato if you don't go out there and fight to defend this ship then we are all going to die. Make your decision quickly" and with that she turned and proceeded towards the bridge.

A few minutes later...

Kira was once again at the controls of the Strike. He was going over the information on the Sword Striker pack that had just been loaded onto the mobile suit he was riding when an unfamiliar voice came over the radio. "One heat source detected. It's a GINN; equipped with heavy artillery."

Ensign Badgiruel's voice then came over the radio "launch the Strike."

Again that other voice came back on "another group detected coming in from the Tannenbaum district. Two GINNs and... X-303 Aegis?"

Kira was accelerating out of the hanger when he looked up at the approaching enemy mobile suit formation. Two of the GINNs broke off and headed straight for the Archangel. The other GINN began aggressively engaging him while the red mobile suit hung back slightly.

The GINN that was pursuing him raised its laser cannon and fired off a shot which missed Kira's evading suit and instead blasted straight through one of the central shaft's support cables. Several more shots missed him instead hitting the ground below. Kira, fed up with the willful destruction of his home colony blocked the next shot with his shield then moved in to engage the GINN at close range with his sword. Suddenly the red mobile suit made its move coming in from behind the Strike passing by at extremely close range. The GINN taking advantage of Kira's distraction fired its cannon again. Kira once again dodge out of the way but this time he grabbed the Strike's Midas Messer (beam boomerang) and hurled it at the other suit. The boomerang missed the first time but severed the enemy GINN's leg on its return. Kira took advantage of the situation and cleaved the GINN through the torso with his sword, the Schwert Gewehr causing the other suit to explode. Kira felt sick to his stomach as he realized the he was just responsible for the death of another human being and he immediately blamed the people who had ultimately placed him in this situation, the Earth Forces military for daring to manufacture their weapons on his neutral colony.

Kira notice that another of the GINNs was destroyed by the Archangel's guns which had simultaneously hit the central shaft causing chunks of it to fall around Kira's machine. Kira ignore them and the voice of Ensign Badgiruel as he faced down the suit that Ramius had called the Aegis which he suspected was piloted by Athrun. The two suits feinted at each other but neither struck a blow. Suddenly an old familiar voice came over his speakers via laser communicator.

"Kira, Kira Yamato! So it is you isn't it Kira?"

"Athrun? Athrun Zala!"

The two of them ignore the destruction of the last GINN and thereby failed to notice when it launched all four of its bunker buster missiles at once; all of them hitting the central shaft within meters of each other.

"Why are you here Athrun? You used to hate the very idea of war?"

"I could ask you the same thing Kira. What are you doing in that thing fighting for the Earth Forces?" Athrun moved his suit closer but with its arms and hands open to show that he was not going to attack.

At that very moment the central shaft, unable to handle any more abuse broke into several large fragments. The outer colony walls began to break apart from its centrifugal force. Large fissures began to form along the colonies seams and the resulting rush of escaping atmosphere caught the Strike unprepared. Athrun seeing his long lost friend in trouble shot forward and wrapped his mobile suits arms around the legs of Kira's suit causing them both to be ejected out of the colony together.

Kira was in shock; all around him floated pieces of his former home. He continued to stare out at it listlessly until his view was eclipsed by Athrun's mobile suit. It was then that he became aware that Athrun's panicking voice had been calling him for several minutes.

"Athrun" he spoke shakily "Heliopolis is gone!"

Athrun took in a shuddering breath before attempting to calm Kira down but before he could reply Kira continued.

"How could they bring their war here to my home colony?" Kira asked no one in particular. "Orb is supposed to be a neutral nation so how come the Earth Forces were building those mobile suits here? Did the Orb government approve this? I just don't know what's going on anymore!" Kira then proceeded to break down and cry out all of his frustration and insecurities and Athrun was force to listen to his friends anguish while attempting to give what comfort he could to his hurting friend.

Kira eventually pulled himself back together. Athrun, upon hearing Kira's lessening sobs, began his attempts to once again discover why his childhood friend was piloting a mobile suit for the Naturals "Kira can you open your hatch I'd like to talk to you face to face?"

"Can't" Kira choked out in a rough tear filled voice "I'm not wearing a flight suit; I'm not even suppose to be here; I'm just a student damnit!"

Athrun breathed a sigh of relief "so you're not with the Earth Forces?"

"No!" Kira exclaimed

"Then why are you piloting that mobile suit for them?" Athrun wanted to ask why Kira was fighting against his fellow Coordinator's but felt that this would be the wrong tactic to take.

"I was caught in the factory district without an emergency shelter to get into and that female officer said she would protect me. After I caught that short glimpse of you I knock her down to keep her from firing at you and we ended up in the cockpit of the Strike. She began powering the suit up and told me sit behind her. After several minutes of her stumbling around trying to fight that GINN I told her to get out of the way before she killed any of the innocent civilians that were trying to flee the battle amongst whom were my classmates and friends. I was force to rewrite the Gundam's OS while holding off the GINN's attacks and finally managed to disable it. Sometime during that battle she lost consciousness and my friends and I were able to make it a safe distance away from Morgenroete. After a short while Lt. Ramius, that's the Earth Forces officer's name, regained consciousness and as thanks for saving her life and the Strike she pulled her pistol on us and ordered us to retrieve the trailer holding the Strike's other components. Shortly after finishing that, the other ZAFT mobile suit showed up followed by the Archangel and that was when I accidentally blow a hole in the outer wall of the colony with the Launcher Striker. After the enemy mobile suit fled and the Archangel landed I went on board with the Strike and was harassed when the pilot of the mobile armor, Lt. La Flaga, guessed that I was a Coordinator. If it wasn't for him and my friends I would provably be locked up in the brig right now. After that confrontation I was able to catch a short nap until Lt. Ramius showed up and informed me that unless I piloted the Strike again then my friends and I would be killed along with the rest of the Archangel's crew. What chose did I have after she phrased it like that? You know the rest."

"So you were just piloting that suit to protect your friends? Oh Kira I'm sorry I ever doubted you. I thought for a little while that you had turned your back on us Coordinator's; on me" Athrun finished with a whisper.

"No Athrun" Kira answered as equally softly "I would never turn my back on a friend, I was simply between a rock and hard place."

"Kira come back to the Vesalius with me, I'm sure that once Commander Creuset hears your side of things he will be able to come up with a plan to help rescue your friends."

"I… alright At-Athrun I'll come with you. After all it's not like I can go back to the Archangel, not with what's awaiting me back there. But I do hope that we will be able to save my friends they were one of the nicer aspects of living on Heliopolis. They helped keep the loneliness away."

As Athrun lead Kira back to the Vesalius's last known position he reflected on what Kira had just admitted. He, Kira, still missed Athrun's friendship even after all those years apart. Athrun thought to himself, 'it's nice not being the only one affected that way.'

TBC…

A/N: 1 Various parts and phrases taken from the Mobile Suit Gundam Seed DVD's and the Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Novelization; if you don't own either of this great work's I highly recommend you rush out and buy them.

A/N: 2 This will be a slow build up to romance fic, not a 'we just made up lets go hop in bed' fic so have patience or don't read.

Foo Fighters - Learn To Fly Lyrics

Run and tell all of the angels

This could take all night

Think I need a devil to help me get things right

Hook me up a new revolution

Cause this one is a lie

We sat around laughing and watched the last one die

I'm looking to the sky to save me

Looking for a sign of life

Looking for something to help me burn out bright

I'm looking for complication

Looking cause I'm tired of lying (trying)

Make my way back home when I learn to fly

I think I'm done nursing the patience

I can wait one night

I'd give it all away if you give me one last try

We'll live happily ever trapped if you just save my life

Run and tell the angels that everything is alright...

Fly along with me, I can't quite make it alone

Try and make this life my own


	2. Shoot The Arrow

**Divergence**

**By: cjtokage**

**Disclaimer**: I own no part of the Gundam continuum. I am making ZERO dollars on this work of fiction.

**Warnings**: Yaoi/Slash; in other words two (or sometimes more heh, heh) guys romancing each other. Athrun/Kira pairing; AU story that takes off from the cannon version fairly early. Perhaps a small hint of OOCness for those of you who worry about that type of thing. Proofread but not beta'd, so any mistakes are mine. Let me know and I will fix them during the final draft.

**Chapter Two: **Shoot the Arrows

Athrun and Kira found the Gamow¹ and the Vesalius² floating in near orbit close to their previous positions. Athrun knew that it was very likely that Yzak, Dearka, and Nicol were now on board the Vesalius to have a post combat debriefing after the destruction of the Heliopolis colony. He would have to watch Kira's back closely until the situation was explained, especially knowing what a hot head Yzak was.

"This is the X-303 Aegis hailing the Vesalius, Athrun Zala requesting landing permission for myself and the X-105 Strike. I also request a meeting between myself, the pilot of the Strike mobile suit and Commander Creuset at his earliest convenience."

Orders were apparently relayed because a few minutes later the two mobile suits were given the go ahead to commence landing. Upon entering the hanger bay Kira immediately noticed the difference in quality of the ZAFT vessel as compared to the Earth Forces ship. Were the Archangel had been cold and sterile with a hard, straight edges, and a completely metallic interior, the ZAFT ships appeared to be design around a more circular pattern. Everywhere practical there appeared to be circular hatches, circular passageways, circular view ports, and other less conspicuous details. It all made for a much more natural feeling onboard the ship especially when it was taken into account that straight lines and sharp corners were rarely found in nature. As an added bonus the circular passageway left more room for the ships intrinsic electrical and fiber optic cables and with the right reinforcements the closer bulkhead and rooms could be an asset in the event of a hull breach.

Athrun allowed Kira a few moments after disembarking to acquaint himself with the lay out of the Vesalius before directing his attention to the hatch that lead to the main corridor. From there they proceeded directly to Commander Creuset's office. Athrun was stunned to see that Kira had been telling the truth when he exited the Strike mobile suit without a flight suit on. Even a small crack in the mobile suits armor could introduce a vacuum inside the cockpit that with a flight suit would possibly be survivable but without one would spell instant death. This was just another example of the Naturals blatant stupidity or worse willful neglect considering that they knew that Kira was a Coordinator.

Athrun came out of his silent fuming when he noticed that they were nearing the Commander's cabin. He paused to give Kira a small encouraging smile before pushing the small button beside the doors control panel. The door opened immediately to allow them entrance and Athrun noticed that Yzak, Dearka, and Nicol were also in attendance.

Athrun gave his commanding officer a smart salute and stated in a firm voice "Athrun Zala reporting sir, I have with me Kira Yamato, the pilot of the Strike mobile suit, which he is turning over to our hands."

Kira for his part stayed silent during this exchange; he was willing to admit that he was more that slightly intimidated by the half masked man before him and it did not help that he also had three other ZAFT soldiers in the office with him not including Athrun. He therefore remained alert and aware of the fact that he was currently in what could be considered hostile territory. He noticed during Athrun's introduction that all eyes became more intensely focused on him so he was not surprised when the commander asked him "tell me Mr. Yamato how is it that a Natural can suddenly pilot an advanced mobile suit with a flawed OS just as well as our elite ZAFT Coordinators can? Hmm?"

Kira hesitated a moment before answering "Sir it is not possible for a Natural to overcome the inherent flaws of the Gundam's OS while battling against enemy forces."

"Then tell me how you were able to accomplish such a feat?"

Kira noticed the tightening around the platinum blonde's and the golden blonde's eyes which told him that they had probably figured out just how something like that was possible. Then the green haired one's position shifted to an even more offensive position and Kira knew that everyone in the room now 'knew' that he himself was a Coordinator even if he had yet to say the words. Kira who had not been around other Coordinator for a long time was coming to the conclusion that these were people who could keep up with him and probably even surpass him in various fields that he was naturally weak in; so Kira did not hesitant to answer their suspicions because to do so could mean his death for being seen as an enemy.

"That would be because I too am a Coordinator, Sir, first gen. to be exact."

The platinum blonde one jumped up at this and quickly asked "how could you betray your own people by piloting a mobile suit for the Naturals?"

"First of all…?"

"Yzak!"

"First of all Yzak I was not piloting the Strike for the Earth Force, at first I was simply trying to defend myself when the mobile suit I was a passenger in was attacked. I took over the controls when it became clear that the Earth Forces officer piloting the machine was not capable of operating it and was about to get the two of us and several dozen civilians killed. The other times I have piloted it is because the Earth Forces are holding my friends on board the Archangel and told me that if I did not fight that we would all be killed along with the rest of the crew. What was I suppose to do, I was trapped in an inescapable position especially when you sent in GINN's equipped with heavy weaponry."

Commander Creuset sat back with a calculating look on his face "so you have no loyalty to the Earth government? Why ever not?"

"Because the Earth Forces are responsible for the destruction of my home colony sir" Kira answered honestly.

"Technically it was ZAFT who invaded your colony and it was ZAFT who fired the shot that caused the collapse of Heliopolis."

"And I say that while technically you are right about it being ZAFT who fired the first shots a few hours ago it is the Earth Forces who are ultimately responsible; ZAFT after all was just responding to a recently discovered threat and attempting to neutralize said threat. The Earth Forces should not have been on Heliopolis to begin with especially since they were building advanced war machines on a neutral colony with or without the permission of the government of Orb. The Naturals I'm sure gave little or no thought to the lives that they would be jeopardizing if and when their secret was exposed; this is just another in a long line of incidences that demonstrates the Earth government inherent selfishness and greed."

"What exactly are you saying Mr. Yamato?" Commander Creuset asked with just a hint of anticipation in his voice.

"Sir I Kira Yamato, Coordinator First Generation request permission to join the ZAFT organization and would like to continue piloting the Strike Gundam in defence of the PLANTs against the corrupt and negligent Earth governments, beginning with the rescue of my friends and the capture of the Earth Forces ship the Archangel."

"You do realize that your services will not end with the capture of the Legged ship and that you will be called upon to kill enemy combatants and possibly destroy civilian structures and unintentionally injure or kill innocent live while obeying orders?"

Kira hesitated for a few moments while he internally wrestled with his sometimes sensitive conscience before answering "I understand that Commander Creuset and while I won't say that I am happy about the possibility of innocent blood on my hands I had already prepared myself for that eventuality before I even asked to join up. As for the enemy combatant they will just have to learn to get out of our way won't they?"

The whole room was in varying states of shock, particularly Athrun, his little crybaby best friend had toughened up in the years that they had been apart. Athrun was proud of him for growing up somewhat even if it was at the cost of some of his innocence.

Kira was swiftly sworn in as a ZAFT soldier equal in rank to Nicol; Athrun, Yzak, and Dearka were all one rank above his own. The six ZAFT soldiers then immediately made their way to the bridge not even stopping to supply Kira with his new uniforms. Once on the bridge Commander Creuset had Captain Ades pull up a display of the space surrounding the former colony he then started the planning session by asking if anyone had any questions or suggestions, after all his pilots were the best in the ZAFT military and all were considered to be geniuses even as compared to the advanced intelligence of the average Coordinator.

Creuset saw that Kira wanted to speak up but was unsure of how to go about it so he intervened "Kira Yamato if you have anything to add please do you are after all the only one here who has actually seen the inside of the Legged ship."

"Yes sir…, I was wondering if you had considered using a Trojan horse sir?"

"Interesting please explain what you have in mind?"

"Well sir the Archangel's mobile suit hanger is one big area with plenty of room to maneuver in and the Captain has no idea whether or not the Strike is damaged or what injuries I may have sustained. Therefore it was my idea to use the Strike to gain access to the hanger, jam the hanger doors open, and leave the ship open for a party of ZAFT soldiers to gain access. My only real opponent will be the Zero Moebuis, if I can disable it quickly enough then I should be able to hack into the hanger controls using the Strikes laser communications equipment. I may even be able to disable some of the ships weaponry in the same manner but I won't know about that until I can get in there and try."

Dearka was the one to speak up this time "you expect us to trust you someone who just joined ZAFT after flying a mobile suit for the enemy; for all we know this could be some elaborate trap to destroy one or more of our mobile suits. I don't trust you alone on that enemy ship for a minute!"

Kira was about to speak up when surprisingly Nicol beat him to it "you say you don't trust Yamato onboard the legged ship alone and maybe you have a point but he doesn't necessarily have to be alone. Kira though you are unaware of this the others should be if they have read the technical briefings concerning the newly acquired mobile suits; the Blitz is equipped with a system called the Mirage Colloid which renders the mobile suit invisible to radar, infra-red sensors, and the naked eye. If we used it to gain access to the legged ship along with your own Strike mobile suit then I could provide you with back-up incase anything unexpected happens and that will give those of our comrades" at this sweet little Nicol gave Yzak and Dearka a hard glare "who doubt your commitment the knowledge that someone is watching over you."

All eyes turned toward Commander Creuset even some of the junior crew members at their stations were straining to listen in on this conversation, all were curious about the young man standing with the commander and the captain dressed in civilian clothing.

"I believe this idea has merit; with a few modifications to the plans to adjust for your lack of knowledge in military procedures Kira Yamato the legged ship will be in our possession hopefully without sustaining too much damage.

A short while later...

Kira shifted around in the seat of 'his' mobile suit in an attempt to get used to the formfitting ZAFT flight suit. He maneuvered the internally repaired but superficially damaged Strike Gundam onto the Vesalius's launch ramp and after waiting a few moments to allow the electromagnetic accelerators to power up he was catapulted out of the ship that for a short time at least would become his new home. He had no time to think about the future though because beside him coming from the Gamow was Nicol in his Blitz Gundam both suits kept their phase shift armor powered down to save on battery power as they proceeded towards the area near where the Archangel was last located.

After traveling for thirty minutes in a zigzag pattern the two mobile suits began receiving garbled radio transmissions and five minutes later the signal became clear enough to decipher the voice of an unknown crew member of the Archangel calling the Strike "X-105 Strike, come in. Come in. Come in, Strike. Do you copy?"

The soldier sounded bored and disheartened and had probably been at this for sometime now.

Kira tight beamed his laser communicator at Nicol's Blitz Gundam "Strike to Blitz do you copy?"

"Blitz here I read you Strike go ahead."

"I'm about to answer their call so you go ahead and engage your Colloid system and then prepare to follow me in. Once inside the airlock they will began to cycle us through and that is when I will began to hack their systems; crew workstations first, hanger doors next, and then last any defensive systems not overridden by the first set of commands. You cover me and don't let La Flaga near the Zero, in fact go ahead and take it out first because we don't need it. "

"Roger that Strike, I'll follow your lead, you take care of your end and I'll watch your back."

"X-105 Strike, can you hear me? Kira Yamato, come in!"

Kira adjusted his voice to sound dazed and barely conscious then hit the intercom button for voice only "this is Kira I can hear you."

Captain Ramius's voice quickly came over the radio "Strike, are you alright?"

"I'm bleeding from a head wound and my ribs are sore I think some of them might be broken, I don't know."

"Alright and what about the condition of the Strike can you make it back or do you need assistance?"

"Visual communications are out, right arm not responding, thruster's are at sixty percent of maximum output, other than that I'm not sure. I can make it to your position but it will take me a few minutes. You may wish to clear the hanger until I get this thing settled in and have a fire team ready just in case."

Kira flashed his running lights twice to signal the other three Gundams that they were moving out then he boosted the Strike up to fifty percent thrust and began maneuvering through the Heliopolis debris zone.

Meanwhile on board the Archangel the three senior officers were having a quiet but intense discussion concerning one Kira Yamato. Ensign Badgiruel was once again attempting to make her point that the kid had been out there for too long and that Coordinators were not to be trusted whether they come from a neutral colony or not. Lt. La Flaga on the other hand was insisting that the kid had a hero streak running through him and he likely would come to see it as his duty to protect the Archangel with his life if necessary. Captain Ramius was undecided about the trustworthiness of Coordinators but she had to admit that without the Strike mobile suit piloted by Kira they stood an ice cubes chance in hell of surviving to make it to an Earth Alliance base; so she really had no choice but to use the Coordinator until such a time as he proved himself or he became expendable which ever came first.

Kira came into view of the Archangel and began to maneuver slightly erratically as to simulate damage. He maneuvered into the airlock and paused for a moment to allow the Blitz time to catch up if need be; he then moved forward and at the same time began using his laser communications system to infiltrate the Archangel's computer system. Five minutes later when the hanger doors were opening he had locked out the bridge crew from their controls and he had also sealed the crews' access to the hanger area proper he then sounded the decompression alarm and began depressurizing the entire hanger to allow both airlock doors to be opened simultaneously thereby granting direct access to the hanger area for the ZAFT troop carriers that would be approaching as soon as he gave the all clear. As he waited for the pressure to drop enough to open both doors Kira went to work on the ships weapons systems, disabling each as he found them; this took several minutes as there was several layers of cyber defenses surround each weapons autonomic software command center. He then locked down all the ship's internal airlocks and disabled the ship's elevators.

Once finished Kira took the time to really notice his surroundings instead of just partially monitoring them and discovered that sometime after the inner airlock had opened the Blitz had entered and disabled the Zero's engines before taking up a defensive stance between the Strike and the interior of the hanger. Kira also noticed that he had apparently left the in-ship communications system open because Captain Ramius was demanding that he explain exactly what was going on. He ignored her for a moment and instead entered into the ship's systems again and used the ship's running lights to send the all clear signal to the awaiting boarding party. He then opened up a full visual and audio link to the bridge which allowed everyone there to see that he was wear a ZAFT flight suit.

"Captain Ramius I ask that you have your crew stand down and vacate the bridge, ZAFT troopers will be on board the ship within the minute and I really don't want to see any of you get hurt." Kira then opened a ship wide broadcast "this is Kira Yamato pilot of the Gundam Strike I ask you all to proceed to your quarters and stay there until otherwise notified. ZAFT troopers will be boarding momentarily and I have no desire to see anyone hurt or worse, killed. They outnumber you five to one and are more than capable of seizing this ship if you resist." With that he cut off all in ship communications and watched as the four ZAFT troop transports landed under the watchful eyes of the two towering Gundams. Kira sent the company commander all the access codes he had encrypted into the ships systems that would allow the troopers to gain control of the ship in an orderly fashion. He then returned to sentry duty ensuring that no one would sneak around the invading troops and try and attempt to gain access to the weaponry in the hanger.

Four hours later...

The Assault Movement Special Equipment Warship Archangel was firmly under ZAFT control with only one casualty, Ensign Badgiruel had disobeyed direct orders and had attempted to defend the bridge by herself she suffered a gunshot wound to her right shoulder thereby disabling her. With additional manpower provided by a nearby Laurasia-class frigate, the Eddington³ the four ship convoy was now underway toward the distant L-5 PLANTs with only the strategically worthless Port of Artemis with its limited offensive capability to stand against them. It seemed that the ZAFT fleet would have a clear course towards their distant homeport.

TBC…

A/N: According to the information in the back of the fourth volume of the Gundam Seed manga the ZAFT organization names its space based vessels after famous scientist and advancers of knowledge while their terrestrial vessels are named after famous explorers. The Earth Alliance on the other hand names its vessels after the rulers of ancient kingdoms and famous military leaders.

A/N: Special Note: All below and subsequent information found in the Webster Illustrated Contemporary Dictionary Encyclopedic Edition.

1) Gamow, George 1904-1968 Russian born U.S. Physicist and Author. (Show original ship name)

2) Vesalius, Andreas 1514-1564 Belgian Anatomist. (Show original ship name)

3) Eddington, Sir Arthur Stanly 1884-1944 English Astronomer and Astrophysicist. (My original ship name)

Adema – Shoot The Arrows

Been greeted with a smile, in my back twists the knife

So quick to flip the switch, never know quite what hit

Behind the lines you know, true colors always show

Forget that you exist, the hand that feeds cut off at the wrist

Hate spreads like an infection, two faces yet you see one

Hey, shoot the arrows, as I turn to go

Know one day when most of us are gone, shoot the arrows

Holding on to what you feel is true, and it's killing you

Fed up for so long, I've let go, watch you hang on

When did lost trust begin, as soon as I decide to let you in

This took a part of me that will never return you see

I've grown cold and hollow, the hurt that's caused I'll never let it show

Total lack of devotion, in you I have no faith

(Chorus)

There's no way that you ever could have known I would stoop so low

Don't tell me you wouldn't do the same thing, I know all the games you play

Think hard 'cause now it starts to eat at you

There's nothing else to do, what's done is done

You hold onto what you feel is true and now it's killing you

(Repeat Chorus)


	3. Rip Out The Wings Of A Butterfly

**Divergence**

**By: cjtokage**

**Disclaimer**: I own no part of the Gundam continuum. I am making ZERO dollars on this work of fiction.

**Warnings**: Yaoi/Slash; in other words two (or sometimes more heh, heh) guys romancing each other. Athrun/Kira pairing; AU story that takes off from the cannon version fairly early. Perhaps a small hint of OOCness for those of you who worry about that type of thing. Proofread but not beta'd, so any mistakes are mine. Let me know and I will fix them during the final draft.

**Chapter Three: **Rip Out The Wings Of A Butterfly

Kira was hard at work studying the ZAFT military organization and he was surprised to see how loose that organization actually was. ZAFT, being made up of civilian volunteers had no formal rank structure and fewer regulations when compared to terrestrial armies both past and present. Coordinators also held themselves to higher standards than Naturals in their everyday lives and that standard was extended into their military and political organizations as well.

Kira was well into his eighteenth hour of reading when he came to the final set of regulations. He was currently on duty taking his turn as the five minute standby pilot¹ while Athrun slept. 'Two more hours' Kira thought to himself 'and I can get some sleep.' Kira had to laugh at the memory of the pout that Athrun had pulled when he tried to help his brunette friend study. Kira had always been an excellent student even surpassing the other Coordinator kids when he still lived on the moon and now he was using those skills to quickly adapt to life as a ZAFT soldier.

Kira and Athrun had yet to find the time to really talk about what had happened during the years of their separation and it looked like they would have to wait for a while longer, at least until they reached the PLANT capital of Aprilius One.

Eight hours later…

Kira awoke to the sound of an alert tone which he recognized as the battle stations alarm. He was almost finished pulling on his green flight suit when an overhead speaker announced "Kira Yamato report to the mobile suit hanger to prepare for battle, Kira Yamato report to the mobile suit hanger." He grabbed his helmet and dashed out of his and Athrun's shared room and sprinted towards the hangers. He arrived a minute later having already learned the shortest route to the hangers and was greeted by technicians prepping the Strike and Aegis Gundams. Athrun was waiting for him at the bottom of the Strike Gundam. He raised an eyebrow "good timing."

Kira grinned for a moment "I'm trying" he said to his friend then after Athrun returned his grin they both sobered up as they remembered the reason they were here.

"Alright" Athrun began "we have come across an Earth Alliance fleet that's not where they're supposed to be. We believe that they are attempting to block our route to Aprilius. Our mission is to destroy all opposition; you and Dearka will be attacking the warships while Nicol and I take out the Mobile Armors. Yzak and the GINNs will be defending the Archangel; this configuration should best suit our individual mobile suits strengths. We chose to outfit your Gundam with the Sword Striker pack because there are six warships out there including an Agamemnon class mobile armor carrier. Two of the escort ships are missile deploying frigates and the other three are destroyers capable of carrying fifteen mobile armors apiece. The frigates will be you primary target followed by the carrier and finally the destroyers. You must disable or destroy the frigates before they come within firing range of the legged ship or we risk losing it to the intense missile barrage those ships are capable of launching. Go ahead; mount up… and good hunting."

"Take care of yourself Athrun I just found you again I don't want to lose you."

"You too" Athrun then turned to towards the Aegis before turning back suddenly "I glad you're here with us Kira, where you belong."

Kira just nodded before kicking off lightly from the deck and floating directly toward the Strike's cockpit.

After bringing the mobile suit up using normal startup procedures Kira proceeded to the catapult and waited for launch authorization. A few minutes later he heard the officer in charge of the Vesalius's CIC² announce "we have multiple mobile armor launches, the enemy capital ships are maneuvering into an offensive stance, prepare to launch the Strike and the Aegis."

Kira watched the launch signal change from red to green "Kira Yamato, Gundam Strike launching" and suddenly he was accelerating out of the ship and he took a moment to note that the ZAFT catapults rate of acceleration was greater than the Archangel's which was obviously designed for Naturals. Then Kira was suddenly at the battle field and he no longer had time for extraneous thoughts. Kira noticed that his IFF³ system had been updated with ZAFT's newest code breaker program which now gave him the names of the ships he was preparing to attack. "Strike to Buster, Dearka I will go after the Pickett while you target the Priam. When they are disabled or destroyed we can concentrate our attack on the Nebuchadnezzar. Do you agree or do you have a better plan?"

Dearka was annoyed by the newbie's presumption at telling him how to fight and he made no effort to keep it out of his voice as he answered; unfortunately the brat had correctly identified the scenario that was most likely to be successful so he reluctantly answered "I concur" before cutting his end of the laser link.

Kira ignored Dearka's sarcastic tone and firing his vernier engines he maneuvered towards the nearest missile frigate the OANI Pickett. Approaching the ship from above Kira paused for a moment to study its design and immediately picked out several flaws that could be exploited. He grabbed his beam boomerang and hurled it at an approaching mobile armor striking it on the first try and disabling another on the rebound. He grabbed it out of mid-flight and replaced it while grabbing the Schwert Gewehr, the fifty two foot long anti-ship blade that gave the Sword Striker pack its name. Again Kira fired his verniers and blasted directly towards the maneuvering ship below while slicing into any mobile armor that came within range. By the time he had made contact with the rear deck of the Pickett he had destroyed an additional four mobile armors bringing his total up to five destroyed and one disabled. The Strike now stood on the spot Kira had previously noticed to be within the ships blind spot where no weapons fire could hit him without doing serious damage to the ship he now occupied. Kira raised his blade and with a whirl brought the laser edge of his sword slicing directly through the ships bridge thereby crippling it. He then rapidly maneuvered down to the side of the Pickett and before he could talk himself out of it he slashed a vertical line down the entire length of the ship before racing away from the resulting explosion. He destroyed two more mobile armors that had tried to maneuver behind him and proceeded towards the Agamemnon class carrier the Nebuchadnezzar.

Meanwhile Athrun, Nicol, and two of the GINNs were making short work of the EA's mobile armors; the only problem was that there were so many of them that it was taking time. Athrun had just used his beam rifle to destroy another mobile armor when he noticed an enormous explosion on one of his side monitors; he at first thought that it was Dearka until he noticed the Strike leaving the area on a course towards the enemy fleet's carrier. 'So Kira really is capable of doing what needs to be done. I was a bit worried that he would be unable to fight with that type of aggression during battle. I just hope that this war doesn't harden his heart so much that he becomes another Yzak.'

Yzak was both ecstatic and frustrated at the same time. He was ecstatic because he busy turning the EA's mobile armors into scrap and frustrated because he was stuck guarding the legged ship on Commander Creuset's orders. He had just finished off the last armor in the current cluster he was fighting when one of the GINNs that was under his command sent out a call for help. "Yzak, Athrun, anybody I'm being swarmed over here, left arm disabled, verniers down to sixty percent, I need…" and suddenly Yzak notice an explosion to his left as his fellow Coordinator succumbed to enemy fire. Immediately after the destruction of the GINN the dozen mobile armors turned towards the legged ship where they were met with a barrage from the ships Igelstellungs and its surface-to-air missiles. Within moment the enemy squadron was decimated even as the next wave of mobile armors came charging at the two remaining mobile suits protecting the Archangel.

Dearka was ready to curse his luck as he notice that the Strike had already destroyed its first target and was on its way to the next one 'that runt is beating me' he thought to himself as his next shot scored directly atop his last one coring the enemy frigate before it was able to launch a single missile. 'Well the main threat is destroyed now to leave those mobile armors with no transport home, if there are any left after we are done with them.'

Dearka keyed is laser communicator to the Strike "Buster to Strike; Kira I'm leaving the Nebuchadnezzar to you, don't worry you can handle it, meanwhile I'm going after those three destroyers before they get into firing range of their linear cannons."

"Roger that Buster" Kira said as he attempted to find a weakness in the Nebuchadnezzar's defenses, which was proving to be difficult because it appeared to be a well thought out ship design. Then suddenly Kira had an idea which he immediately implemented; he pushed the verniers to their maximum output and raced towards the ship again coming in from above only this time he flew past the ship but only after launching his rocket anchor at the ships portside hull. He then used his momentum and the attached cable to slingshot rapidly around the hull of the massive ship faster than the enemies' guns could track his suit. He came out of the arc near the bridge of the ship on the starboard side and again using his sword he decapitated the enemy vessel bringing its coordinated assault to an end. With the ships weapons controller gone many of the carrier's ship-to-air defenses went into standby mode and ceased firing. Kira then proceeded towards the rear of the ship where the engines were located and began systematically rendering them into scrap. As Kira was working his way through his third engine block he received a call from the Vesalius's CIC "Strike, status update, the frigates Pickett, and Priam, have been destroyed, as has the destroyer Botha; disabled enemy ships are the Nebuchadnezzar, and the Bonaparte. Proceed to the remaining destroyer the Custer and destroy it on Commander Creuset's orders, over."

Dearka fired a final round from his high-energy beam rifle coring the destroyer Bonaparte causing it to explode brilliantly as its internal oxygen supplies and its weapons magazines ignited and just as suddenly the fireball disappeared as the blast lost its fuel supply to the vacuum of space. He noticed Kira disengaging from the listing Nebuchadnezzar leaving it relatively whole except for its engines and bridge areas. He was making a mental note to rib the newbie for leaving a job half done when combined fire from the Vesalius and the Gamow hit the massive EA carrier both fore and aft causing it to break apart into three separate pieces each of which were being consumed by internal fires and explosions. 'Damn I guess I would leave too if I was in the way of that kind of firepower.' Dearka then turned his attention towards the sole remaining ship to 'help' Kira remove it from the battle field faster.

Kira this time approached the enemy ship from below to take advantage of the ships huge blind-spot. The ships designers left the underside of this particular ship model virtually undefended underneath and even though the Custer was attempting to roll the ships weak area away from the approaching mobile suit they just weren't fast enough. Kira used his anti-ship sword to carve a gouge from the ships foredeck all the way back to the engines. Meanwhile on the ships upper-deck the Buster had converted its long range sniper rifle into its alternate configuration as a beam firing shotgun and was using it to blast away at the ship's bridge and laser cannons as well as taking out any stray mobile armors that attempted to come between him and his target. Reading increasing temperature and energy levels inside the destroyer both the Buster and the Strike jetted away even as the ship blasted outwards in an expanding, though short lived, fireball.

The battle was now for the most part over with only a few scattered mobile armors either fleeing the battle scene or futilely attempting to penetrate Yzak's defensive perimeter around the Archangel. Seeing as they were getting low on power, Kira maneuvered towards the Vesalius will Dearka made his way over to the Gamow. Athrun and Nicol spent several more minutes chasing down and destroying any of the enemy mobile armors that stuck around the combat zone before they too were forced to head back to the hangers because of rapidly depleting energy levels. Yzak was also forced to return to the Archangel and leave the few brave or perhaps foolish, mobile armor pilots to the Archangel's gunners.

Kira was waiting in the pilots' ready room for Athrun to dismount. He was still wearing his flight suit and his face held a somewhat sad expression though he did perk up when Athrun finally entered the room "hey Athrun, I'm glad to see you made it back in one piece."

"You to Kira, I was worried about you going up against those warships on your first real sortie, but there was nothing I could do about it what with all the mobile armors that they launched. So why are you still standing here and not in the showers already?"

"I wasn't sure about the post combat debriefing situation. Do we have time to shower and change uniforms or does Commander Creuset want us to meet with him straight away?"

Athrun laughed at the worried expression on Kira's face before answering "no we have a while before we're expected to appear before the commander. After all we still have to wait for the technicians to recover our suits' battle recordings and for Nicol, Dearka, and Yzak to shuttle over for a post battle discussion. Or rather a post battle put down fest by Yzak and Dearka. Those two never have anything positive to say about anyone. If only they would lay off the attitude then they would engender a lot more support for themselves. Oh well the best we can do is restrain our temper and not give them the satisfaction of reacting."

A thoughtful expression appeared on Kira's face before he turned to his locker and began striping out of his flight suit. Once nude he grabbed his toiletries and headed for the open shower room, quickly followed by Athrun who was observing his friends slim figure and taut backside.

The nice thing about living and working on a ZAFT vessel is the fact that they had water purification and moisture collection down to an art. They were able to recollect large amounts of water that otherwise would have been wasted. This meant that unlike on Earth Alliance vessels the ZAFT crewmembers were able to spend more than a few minutes getting cleaned up and had time to allow the hot flowing water the chance to loosen muscles that were stiff from the abuse that piloting a mobile suit has on a person.

Kira was absentmindedly soaping up his chest and arms but most of his attention was directed at observing what a great job puberty had done with Athrun's body. Like most Coordinators, Athrun was slim, with average musculature that hide the great strength his body possessed. His stomach and chest was firm and sculpted in a v-shape down to narrow hips and long perfectly shaped legs and thighs. Kira glanced up to be sure that Athrun was still preoccupied with washing out his hair before risking a look first at his best friends tantalizing butt and a slightly longer glance at the other's package. Kira then returned his attention to cleaning his own body even as his mind was processing the new knowledge he now had about his best friend's perfect physique. Kira couldn't help but compare his body with Athrun's; he was slimmer and obviously weighed less than his more muscled friend, they were about the same height, and as for equipment Kira could not really tell as they were both flaccid but they seemed to be about the same length with Athrun having slightly large testicles. Noticing a stirring in is own groin as he pictured his friends body Kira turned his thoughts to more mundane subjects as he finished rinsing off before walking over the rack were his towel hung and began drying off.

Athrun couldn't help but smirk at his friend's subtle observation of his body. He didn't mind the attention; after all it had been years since they had last bathed together and Athrun had made his own observations when the other boy had been washing his hair with his eyes closed. Athrun didn't know if Kira might be interested in more than the friendship they had previously had, and right now wasn't the time to focus on something like that anyway. Besides there was Lacus to think about and his own fathers expectations to deal with; Kira also had to deal with his pacifist parents' reaction to his join ZAFT and settling into a new, more structured environment. No, for now Athrun decided to work on renewing and strengthening his and Kira's friendship with each other and if sometime in the future something more developed they would deal with it then. After all they still had years of catching up to do first and they need to learn all the new and different personality quirks that would have appeared growing up with different backgrounds. Resolute, Athrun retrieved his own towel and while still drying off he strolled into the locker room to retrieve his clothing before heading to his and Kira's quarters for a clean uniform.

TBC…

A/N 1: On board aircraft carriers they keep one or two pilots ready to take-off immediately and another set of pilots suited up and ready to take-off within five minutes. The ZAFT ships are doing the same thing with their mobile suits until they reach ZAFT controlled space and being as there are only nine pilots (five Gundam pilots and four GINN pilots from the Eddington) they are switching off shifts to give each other breaks.

A/N 2: CIC- Combat Information Center

A/N 3: IFF- Identify Friend or Foe

A/N: OANI- Opposes Aggressors & Neutralize Invasion

Pickett, George E. 1825- 1875, Confederate General

Priam, King of Troy during the Trojan War

Nebuchadnezzar II?-562? B.C., king of Babylon 605- 562 B.C., conqueror of Jerusalem.

Bonaparte, Napoleon, 1764- 1821, French General and emperor of France.

Custer, George Armstrong, 1839- 1876, U.S. General

Botha, Louis, 1862- 1919, Boer General; first prime minister of the Union of South Africa.

Him – Rip Out The Wings Of A Butterfly

Heaven ablaze in our eyes, we're standing still in time

The blood on our hands is the wine we offer as sacrifice

Come on and show them your love

Rip out the wings of a butterfly for your soul

My love, rip out the wings of a butterfly for your soul

This endless mercy mile we're crawling side by side

With Hell freezing over in our eyes

Gods kneel before our crime

Come on and show them your love

Rip out the wings of a butterfly for your soul

My love, rip out the wings of a butterfly for your soul…

(Rip out the wings of a butterfly)

Don't let go…

(Rip out the wings of a butterfly)

For your soul

(Repeat chorus)

Final Note: This is all that I have typed up for this story. I am not sure when I will have more ready seeing as how my work schedule is 'flexible' right now. I am working fifty to seventy hour weeks and am typing as time permits. I apologize in advance for the inevitable delays that will occur.


	4. Interlude: Officer's Lament

**Divergence**

**By: cjtokage**

**Disclaimer**: I own no part of the Gundam continuum. I am making ZERO dollars on this work of fiction.

**Warnings**: Yaoi/Slash; in other words two (or sometimes more heh, heh) guys romancing each other. Athrun/Kira pairing; AU story that takes off from the cannon version fairly early, perhaps a small hint of OOCness for those of you who worry about that type of thing. Proofread but not beta'd, so any mistakes are mine. Let me know and I will fix them during the final draft.

**Chapter Four: Interlude**

Lt. Ramius and Lt. la Flaga were holding a quiet conversation in the Archangels lounge where several of the Earth Forces crew and civilian passengers where being allowed a chance to stretch their legs and see something besides the four walls of their quarters. "I don't understand why Yamato chose to side with the Coordinators" Ramius said to her blonde haired companion. "After all we did save him and his friends when no shelters would have taken them in."

Lt. La Flaga stared pensively into his coffee mug as he thought about how to answer the others question. "I doubt that we will ever know all the reasons that the kid decided to side with ZAFT but I suspect that yours and Ensign Badgiruel's less than open attitudes towards Coordinators, even neutral ones like Kira, probably had something to do with it. I said before that the kid had a hero streak in him and that if he was approached right it would make him more inclined to protect the ship, but you and Ensign stick up her ass have this aversion to all things related to Coordinators and you threw those feelings up in Kira's face each time you saw him after you found out his genetics. Add to that the fact that we virtually held his friends hostage to coerce him into piloting the Strike and right there you have enough reason for him to accept an even halfway decent offer from ZAFT especially if they had already figured out that he was a Coordinator."

"But wouldn't the ZAFT commander consider Yamato a traitor for fighting against his fellow Coordinators?"

"Other ZAFT commanders might but not Creuset, I have fought him several times and I have come to understand how he thinks to a certain degree. He obviously can see the same untapped potential in Yamato and he will exploit it for the benefit of the PLANTs."

"Isn't there anything we can do to keep this ship and the prototype mobile suits out of ZAFT's hands?"

"I don't think that we being under manned to begin with and unarmed to boot have any hope of taking on the three or four platoons of ZAFT soldiers stationed around the ship, and even if we did somehow manage to regain control of the ship the other ZAFT vessels would more than likely shoot us down than allow us to escape."

"Even if there were still ZAFT personnel still onboard the ship?"

"The soldiers who fight for ZAFT are all volunteers; they all know that by signing up to fight there is a chance that they might be killed in combat, the same as you and I. Even I know that aside from some of the weaponry this ship is not as advanced as the newer Laurasia class ships that ZAFT is currently deploying and by now they have certainly downloaded the schematics of the ship over the escort ships to prevent the loss of such data in the event of this ships destruction. It is a tough thing to realize but we have lost this battle and once the technicians and scientist at the PLANTs begin developing their own versions of our mobile suits the war will be that much more difficult for the Earth Forces."

Both La Flaga and Ramius were busy pondering that realization when suddenly the battle stations claxons began sounding throughout the ship. They were quickly escorted out of the lounge and into the nearest empty set of quarters where they were locked inside. La Flaga took stock of the room they were in before walking over to the desk and attempting to activate the monitor that was mounted above it. To their surprise a camera shot came up showing three ZAFT vessels deployed ahead of the Archangel and beyond them they could just make out the shape of six Earth Forces vessels maneuvering into attack formation. Suddenly all three ZAFT vessels began deploying mobile suits including all five of the captured Earth Forces Mobile Suits. Lt. Ramius and Lt. La Flaga watched helplessly as the ZAFT piloted mobile suits tore the Earth Forces fleet to shreds losing only one GINN during the entire battle.

As they watched the ZAFT mobile suits returning to their docks the two P.O.W. Earth Forces officers felt all hope leave them; with the stolen mobile suits in their possession their was little chance that the forces of the earth governments would come out victorious in this war.

TBC…


	5. We Will Overcome

**Divergence**

**By: cjtokage**

**Disclaimer**: I own no part of the Gundam continuum. I am making ZERO dollars on this work of fiction.

**Warnings**: Yaoi/Slash; in other words two (or sometimes more heh, heh) guys romancing each other. Athrun/Kira pairing; AU story that takes off from the cannon version fairly early, perhaps a small hint of OOCness for those of you who worry about that type of thing. Proofread but not beta'd, so any mistakes are mine. Let me know and I will fix them during the final draft.

A/N: I had a reviewer ask a question about the red vs. green uniforms; the way I view this is whether or not a pilot has reached the elite, or ace, pilot level yet. In our modern military I think that a pilot has to have five confirmed kills before they become an ace pilot; in this story the number has been raised to fifteen because of the higher skill level of Coordinators. So to answer the question posed Nicol is a red suit because he is an excellent pilot even if he questions what he is fighting for while Kira is a green suit because he just joined ZAFT and has faced only one battle for their side. Don't worry though Kira will move up quickly and will earn his red uniform before you know it.

_Our fathers plant arms in foreign soil._

_Our brothers die and no one knows_

_Where it ends (it ends between the crosshairs) _

_All lies weave a thousand deaths around us._

_Follow the path of straight and narrow, _

_Go hand in hand because our roads are _

_Paved with broken arrows but we will overcome._

**Chapter Five: We Will Overcome**

Many of his peers in the ZAFT organizations consider Ra La Creuset to be a chessmaster of the battlefield often times outthinking his opponents several moves in advance; and even when he does face an unexpected juncture he is capable of swiftly devising ways of turning the situation to his advantage. Such is the case with Kira Yamato; here was a young man, who without any formal training, piloted one of the most advanced mobile suits ever made into combat and operated it with the same efficiency as the elite pilots Creuset normally commanded. The commander was intrigued to say the least.

Creuset was still pondering this as his five pilots took seats around the conference table in the meeting room adjacent to his office. The postcombat debriefing began with Cmdr. Creuset going over the data that was retrieved from each of their flight records and battlefield video footage. They each gave their opinions and observations on their teammates' performance; or as Athrun had previously stated Yzak and Dearka's putdown session. The two pilots had nothing but often time's unfair criticism and unprofessional attitudes to give to the other three pilots. Even when Cmdr. Creuset praised the five of them for a nearly flawless performance the two could not keep their mouth shut and continued to pile their needless slander upon the other three but they especially targeted Nicol. It was all Kira could do to keep his mouth shut during their verbal assaults and in all honesty if Athrun and Nicol had not sat there calmly and allowed it all to pass them by he probably would not have managed it. As the meeting came to a close the Cmdr. asked for him and Athrun to remain behind.

"Mr. Yamato I would like to thank you for restraining yourself during the debriefing. Yzak is not an easy person to get along with and Dearka typically follows his lead. Yzak has been hurt in the past and he now uses his tongue and his anger as a defense mechanism to protect himself from others. But that is not the reason I asked you to remain behind, after reviewing the footage from you last battle it is my intention to request that you retain your piloting status over the mobile suit Strike and that you and it remain under my command along with the other four suits and their current pilots as a special forces unit to be used in strategic strikes against key Earth Forces locations both here in space and on the Earth below. I believe that the counsel will grant my request and I would also for both of you to be present during my briefing of the events surrounding the destruction of Heliopolis and if the counsel desires I would like for both of you to present your interpretation of the Earth Forces actions during the time you were around them. The counsel may ask you some questions Kira based on your report and experiences around the crew of the legged ship; Athrun I'm sure will be willing to help you prepare for your appearance before the counsel. Dismissed.

kyazkyazkyaz

Athrun and Kira spent the rest of the trip to the Aprilius One colony reviewing their experiences during the recent battles and Athrun briefed Kira on what to expect before during and after the counsel meeting. Athrun also told Kira not to react if his father appeared cold to Athrun when they meet out in public.

"After mother died he closed himself off and placed his entire focus on the war, after he did that I almost followed his example but luckily I was assigned to the same unit as Nicol, Yzak, and Dearka. Each of them in their own way forced me to express different emotions and that kept me from closing myself off from others and focusing solely on the war. That is why I don't get so upset when Yzak starts mouthing off because whether he knows it or not he has been helping me to remain grounding to the fact that I am a living being and not some emotionless intelligent component inside of my mobile suit."

They were both quiet for a long time and eventually fell asleep surrounded by the ever present hum of the ships engines driving them onward.

azkyazkyazky

Upon docking at Aprilius Cmdr. Creuset escorted Kira and Athrun to a waiting shuttle for the trip from the military station to the colony proper. Waiting onboard the shuttle for them was a tall man dressed in a tailored military uniform. Athrun fidgeted only slightly as he wondered whether his father would recognize Kira's name or face. He and Kira waited politely as the Defense Chairman and their Cmdr exchanged pleasantries before Patrick Zala turned his attention towards the two boys.

"Athrun" he acknowledged his son emotionlessly before turning his attention to Kira. "Mister Yamato it has been some time since we last saw each other. According to the reports I read you are quite the skilled mobile suit pilot considering your lack of formal training, very interesting. Well considering your skill I'm glad to have you on our side."

The Defense Chairman and Cmdr. Creuset spent the rest of the trip over to the colonies shuttle bays discussing the reports concerning the Heliopolis incident virtually ignoring the two younger passengers.

kyazkyazkyaz

Cmdr. Creuset was reading over some material on his data pad while Athrun and Kira were admiring the view as they made the thirty-seven mile trip from the docking bay down to the city of Aprilius One. They were riding in a glass elevator and the view was spectacular despite the developing cloud cover below. Athrun was educating Kira on the working of the PLANTs and Kira was absorbing everything that came out of the others mouth mainly because he had never visited a PLANT before but mostly because it was Athrun talking.

The two stopped talking though when the movie that had been playing on the elevators monitor ended and was replaced by a news report. "Yesterday afternoon Supreme Council Chairman Siegel Clyne officially announced that mourning ceremonies for Junius Seven will be held next week." On screen a man who appeared to be in his late forties was speaking with the sound off as the anchorman hit the high points of the chairman's speech. Behind the chairman stood other members of the council and beside him was a young lady with long pink hair wearing a white and lilac dress. Kira observed that she was very beautiful; seeming to exemplify the very essence of the feminine persona, if you were into that sort of thing that is.

Cmdr. Creuset who had also been watching the newscast broke his silence with a question that could potentially make or break any chance Athrun had with Kira.

"Isn't that the young women you're betrothed to?"

Athrun gave a vaguely positive grunt but then decided to explain the situation to Kira by speaking directly to their commanding officer thereby tactfully avoiding saying out loud the fact that he really felt nothing for the girl and hopefully Kira would later give him the chance to explain the circumstances of the engagement. "Yes, our fathers made the arrangements shortly before Councilman Clyne took the Chairman's position. There is no set date yet but supposedly after this war is over we are to be wed" Athrun explained in a neutral tone of voice.

Creuset continued to speak as if he did not notice how uncomfortable his two young subordinates suddenly were "I have heard that she is to be a representative at the service that is scheduled to be held at the site of the incident." The Cmdr. then turned his full attention to Athrun "Just imagine, your marriage will unite two of the most politically powerful families in the PLANTs'. Your union will be a beacon to future generations of Coordinators. I'm looking forward to seeing it."

"Thank you sir" Athrun answered tonelessly.

The rest of the trip was passed in silence.

azkyazkyazky

Cmdr. Creuset, Athrun and Kira stood at attention before the representatives of the twelve capitol cities that oversaw the governing of the various PLANTs. The Cmdr. was just finishing up his report "after hearing the chain of events that surrounded the collapse of the Heliopolis colony I believe you will realize that it was never our intent to catastrophically damage the colony itself; our pilots did their utmost to limit damage to the areas being utilized for the construction of the experimental mobile suits and their carrier. The mobile suit carrier used its main gun's while hiding inside the populated colony striking the central shaft several times thereby destroying its ability to maintain the outer walls cohesion. That concludes my report."

Various councilors began debating Orbs involvement with the Earth Alliance, whether they could trust the words of Orb's ambassador, and how this would shape the scope of the war.

Suddenly the voice of Councilor Zala cut through the debate "I wonder Cmdr. Creuset were the experimental mobile suits really worth the lives of the ZAFT troops it cost to capture them?"

"To illustrate the abilities of these machines I would like permission for Athrun Zala to present his report concerning the skirmish in which he and four other pilots engaged in during our passage back to port. In this skirmish these five pilots engaged the enemy using the experimental mobile suits to great success."

Chairman Clyne acknowledged the Commander's request "permission is granted to Athrun Zala to present his report."

Athrun stood and used the remote he had been given to begin displaying images taken during the battle from both the X-unit's and from the ZAFT ship perspectives. "There are five mobile suits each specializing in a different…"

Kira at this point tuned out Athrun's presentation and began think about the information that had learned on the trip down the elevator. 'Athrun is betrothed; I didn't think anyone did that sort of thing anymore. He also did not seem to enthusiastic about it, I remember his father has always been a control freak so it wouldn't surprise me if Athrun had no say in this marriage. But how does he feel about it now though is the question, and why am I so bothered by this sure I like him but that in no way mean he feels the same way about me.

"…and in conclusion, each of the X-numbers can be best utilized based on their specified strengths, thank you."

This time the council was in uproar over the fact that fact that naturals could develop weapons that could potentially out class even ZAFT's new CGUE mobile suit. Talk then turned to Orb's supposed neutrality and whether or not their allowing the Earth Alliance to develop such weapon in their territory was a breach of said neutrality. This time Kira was called to give the council some idea about the political stance of the Orb Union.

"First I would like to say that I was a student in a technical college on Heliopolis and therefore any knowledge I have concerning Orb's governments motivations is purely speculative. Orb's population is ninety percent Naturals and to the best of my knowledge there is not one single Coordinator in the entire government infrastructure; this being said it would seem logical that their sympathy's would align closer to the Earth Alliance than with the PLANTs who live far off in space. Also keep in mind that while Orb is neutral they are in no way pacifist, so by allowing the development of these mobile suits on their territory Orb may have been siphoning of research material in order to bolster their own defense down on earth. My final point of speculation is whether or not this could have been a deal between the colonial government and the Earth Alliance without the consent of Orb's terrestrial government. Thank for your time."

The three ZAFT soldiers observed the council debate for the next half hour as they hammered out plans for bringing the war to a close. "…and so plans for operation Spitbreak will continue to be developed, while at the same time we will consolidate our hold on space and therefore denied the Natural of the resources therein. Now that we hold the Gibraltar and the Kaohsiung catapults we can strangle the EA's ability to reinforce their space forces and thereby ensure the defense of the PLANTs. Operational orders will go out in forty-eight hours" Councilman Zala concluded.

"Very well, in the meantime let get our Intelligence department to see if they can infiltrate Orb's main Morgenroete plant and discover anything valuable. We will forward our finding to our ambassador in Orb and apply more pressure to them to capitulate to our side. If there are no more issues," pauses "meeting adjourned."

kyazkyazkyaz

Defense Chairman Zala approached the three mobile suit pilots as they were finishing a discussion with Chairman Clyne. "Mister Yamato," he was met by three identical salutes "after reviewing your battle footage and upon consulting with Cmdr. Creuset you will be allowed to continue piloting the X-105 mobile suit. Let's hope you continue to live up to the expectations placed upon you."

TBC…

A/N: remember, 243,721 Coordinators killed in the Bloody Valentine tragedy

Thursday: A City By The Light Divided

We Will Overcome

We walk alone until the end of night

Its suicide but we will overcome.

Another life is swinging in the breeze

These southern trees have the strangest fruit.

If you follow the path of straight and narrow,

Go hand in hand because our roads are

Paved with broken arrows but we will overcome.

Our fathers plant arms in foreign soil.

Our brothers die and know one knows

Where it ends (it ends between the crosshairs)

All lies weave a thousand deaths around us.

Follow the path of straight and narrow,

Go hand in hand because our roads are

Paved with broken arrows but we will overcome.

Follow the path of straight and narrow,

Go hand in hand because our roads are

Paved with broken arrows but we will overcome.

We will overcome, we will overcome

We will overcome in no one sleeps tonight.

We will overcome, we will overcome

We will overcome in no one sleeps tonight.

We've been waiting too long to receive the promised land.

We can wait no more; we must stand and make the promised land.


End file.
